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Bandits

© Courtney Shannon

Joe Blake (Bruce Willis) and Terry Collins (Billy Bob Thornton) are escaped convicts in search of a better life south of the border. Their plan: to commit a series of bank robberies from Oregon to California by kidnapping the managers the night before their big heist.

The convicts are dubbed "The Sleepover Bandits" by the television show 'Criminals At Large' who follow the crimes of these two men and profile the end of their stealing sprees. Blake and Collins creatively escape jail by hijacking a cement truck, blowing through the prison gates among gun shots, sirens and running security guards. The duos first stop is a random single family home where they duck in the garage after stealing a car and holding up a bank with a highlighter and cleaning them out. At this point their fugitive status is magnified with every bank they successfully rob. Life for them couldn’t be easier especially with their plan to rob banks from city to city by showing up at the bank managers home the night before and taking them to work the next day to rob the bank. The only thing that could spoil the bandits plan is a woman.

Kate Wheeler (Cate Blanchett) is an unhappily married, emotionally unstable woman whose favorite song is 'Total Eclipse Of The Heart' by Bonnie Tyler. Mix with that Joe, a suave man with boxing skills and Terry, a National Merit Scholar and hypochondriac who swears he has heart disease, a brain tumor and hyperventilates when he is frightened. The three of them leave a trail of happy victims that have nothing but nice things to say about their captors. Their good guy image is intensified by their different but endearing qualities that grasp hold of Kate's heart.

Kate claims that together they would add up to the perfect man. As the two men and the woman bond jealousy ensues between Blake and Collins. Both separately ask Kate to elope with them and torn she puts them both on hold. After their last big stick up the three take off to Mexico and in a sense become a family of three. Bandits is not your typical bank robber storyline. Even as sneaky as these bandits are the ending is clever and the understated humor throughout the film is amusing. The only downfall is some parts were slow, especially watching the typical acting skills of Willis, however, watching Thornton play a hypochondriac steals the show.